Experimental Investigation of Pressure Load Exerted on a Downstream Dam by Dam-Break Flow
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 2
Abstract
The failure of a natural or an artificial dam often leads to catastrophic flooding downstream. Studies have been conducted to investigate the mechanisms of single dam failure and the propagation of dam-break flood wave. However, little attention has been paid to the cascade failure of two or more sequential dams. In this article, consequences of a dam-break flood wave down a channel exerting pressure load on a downstream dam with different backwater effects were studied experimentally. Three typical flood patterns were observed for different downstream reservoir water depths. High precision pressure sensors were employed to measure the pressure load at different heights on the dam. Changes of the maximum pressure load were measured as the bed slope and the upstream and downstream reservoir water depths varied. An empirical formula was obtained by linear regression to predict the maximum pressure load. Additionally, a sinusoidal attenuation function was introduced to describe the time evolution of pressure load exerted on the downstream dam, and its parameters were determined using the measurement data in different cases.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The study results presented here were supported by the National Program on Key Basic Research (Grant No. 2013CB035905), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51209195), and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Universities of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. NCET-10-0589).
References
Aliparast, M. (2009). “Two-dimensional finite volume method for dam-break flow simulation.” Int. J. Sediment Res., 24(1), 99–107.
ASCE/EWRI Task Committee on Dam/Levee Breaching. (2011). “Earthen embankment breaching.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1549–1564.
Aureli, F., Maranzoni, A., Mignosa, P., and Ziveri, C. (2008). “Dam-break flows: Acquisition of experimental data through an imaging technique and 2D numerical modeling.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1089–1101.
Bukreev, V. I., Degtyarev, V. V., and Chebotnikov, A. V. (2008a). “Discharge and energy loss coefficients in flow through a breach in a trapezoidal dam.” J. Appl. Mech. Tech. Phys., 49(1), 53–57.
Bukreev, V. I., Degtyarev, V. V., and Chebotnikov, A. V. (2008b). “Experimental verification of methods for calculating partial dam-break waves.” J. Appl. Mech. Tech. Phys., 49(5), 754–761.
Bukreev, V. I., and Gusev, A. V. (2005). “Initial stage of the generation of dam-break waves.” Dokl. Phys., 50(4), 200–203 [Trans. (2005). Dokl. Akad. Nauk, 401(5), 619–622].
Dai, F. C., Lee, C. F., Deng, J. H., and Tham, L. G. (2005). “The 1786 earthquake-triggered landslide dam and subsequent dam-break flood on the Dadu River, southwestern China.” Geomorphology., 65(3–4), 205–221.
Hunt, B. (1982). “Asymptotic solution for dam-break problem.” J. Hydr. Div., 108(1), 115–126.
Hunt, B. (1987). “A perturbation solution of the flood-routing problem.” J. Hydraul. Res., 25(2), 215–234.
Kuo, J. T., Yen, B. C., Hsu, Y. C., and Lin, H. F. (2007). “Risk analysis for dam overtopping—Feitsui Reservoir as a cast study.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 955–963.
MacDonald, T. C., and Langridge-Monopolis, J. (1984). “Breaching characteristics of dam failures.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 567–586.
Mignot, E., Paquier, A., and Ishigaki, T. (2006). “Comparison of numerical and experimental simulations of a flood in a dense urban area.” Water Sci. Technol., 54(6–7), 65–73.
Nsom, B., Ndong, W., and Ravelo, B. (2008). “Modelling the zero-inertia, horizontal viscous dam-break problem.” WSEAS Trans. Fluid Mech., 3(2), 77–88.
Ozmen-Cagatay, H., and Kocaman, S. (2010). “Dam-break flows during initial stage using SWE and RANS approaches.” J. Hydraul. Res., 48(5), 603–611.
Plate, E. J. (2002). “Flood risk and flood management.” J. Hydrol., 267(1–2), 2–11.
Ritter, A. (1892). “The propagation of water waves.” Ver Deutsch ingenieur zeitschr[Berlin], Part 2, 36(33), 947–954.
Salmon, G. M., and Hartford, D. N. D. (1995). “Risk analysis for dam safety.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstracts, 32(6), 284A–284A.
Singh, V. P., and Scarlatos, P. D. (1988). “Analysis of gradual earth dam failure.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 21–42.
Soares-Frazão, S. (2007). “Experiments of dam-break wave over a triangular bottom sill.” J. Hydraul. Res., 45, 19–26.
Stoker, J. J. (1957). Water waves, Interscience Publishers, New York, 331–341.
Testa, G., Zuccalà, D., Alcrudo, F., and Mulet, J. (2007). “Flash flood flow experiment in a simplified urban district.” J. Hydraul. Res., 45, 37–44.
Valiani, A., Caleffi, V., and Zanni, A. (2002). “Case study: Malpasset dam-break simulation using a two-dimensional finite volume method.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 460–472.
Wahl, T. L. (2004). “Uncertainty of predictions of embankment dam breach parameters.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 389–397.
Yang, C., Lin, B. L., Jiang, C., and Liu, Y. (2010). “Predicting near-field dam-break flow and impact force using a 3D model.” J. Hydraul. Res., 48(6), 784–792.
Zanuttigh, B., and Lamberti, A. (2001). “Dam-break waves in power-law channel section.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 322–326.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 2 • February 2014
Pages: 199 - 207
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 15, 2012
Published online: Feb 6, 2013
Accepted: Jun 4, 2013
Discussion open until: Jul 6, 2013
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.